Show Us Your Binoculars.

Chris S · November 28, 2016

Its interesting that if this was asked on a bird-watching forum, which I am also a member, the photos would be mostly be of Swarovski , Zeiss and Leitz binoculars. Makes that are conspicuous by their absence on here.

Stub Mandrel · November 28, 2016

1 hour ago, Chris S said:

Its interesting that if this was asked on a bird-watching forum, which I am also a member, the photos would be mostly be of Swarovski , Zeiss and Leitz binoculars. Makes that are conspicuous by their absence on here.

Charitably, they are more interested in sharpness at the centre of the FOV and good colour balance.

Less charitably, having the right bins matters almost as much as your tick-list in some birding circles :evil4:

BinocularSky · December 2, 2016

...and even less charitably: most of the time they can actually see what another is using; most of the time, we can't.

But also, for most astronomers, binoculars are not the primary instrument and the main lucre goes into a scope, mount and decent camera and .....

YKSE · December 2, 2016

4 minutes ago, BinocularSky said:

...and even less charitably: most of the time they can actually see what another is using; most of the time, we can't.

But also, for most astronomers, binoculars are not the primary instrument and the main lucre goes into a scope, mount and decent camera and .....

:grin:

A40farinagolf · February 7, 2017

My wife can never have enough handbags so I say why not apply that rule to binos :-) - I'm now looking for a pair of 100mm 90deg binos if you have any recommendations, my favourites change from time to time depending upon what I'm doing with them.

Miyauchi 15x60 - 2nd favourite

Lunt 16x70 - 4th favourite

Fujinon 7x50 - 3rd favourite

Celestron Granite 12x50 - 1st favourite

Pentax 10x50 - 5th favourite

SpaceBass · February 7, 2017

Nice list. Why is the Celestron your favourite and are they a big step up over the Pentax?

Edited February 7, 2017 by SpaceBass

A40farinagolf · February 7, 2017

3 hours ago, SpaceBass said:

Nice list. Why is the Celestron your favourite and are they a big step up over the Pentax?

Good question, my opinion is that the Granites feel better in the hand, the focussing is more precise and it snaps into focus quicker. They are slightly smaller and lighter and ergonomically fit a bit better, the minimum focus distance is about 3m so they are easy to carry around for terrestrial use. Optically I wouldn't say there's much between any of my binos and my eyes are probably the weakest link and I'm lucky because optically they are all good.

My Miyauchi and Fujinons show the least amount of CA closely followed by the Granites, Lunt and then the Pentax (still negligible) - I'd definitely recommend the Pentax ones as they are superb value for money and you won't regret buying them - I got mine from FLO for about £150

doormij · February 12, 2017

My latest: EL 10x50 roof, very good but not perfect, small: fit in my hand palm.

BinocularSky · February 12, 2017

1 minute ago, doormij said:

My latest: EL 10x50 roof,

Envious! Nicest 10x50 I've looked through. Ever.

Damo636 · February 12, 2017

Yep, never looked through one of those but have read enough to know it's a truly stunning optic, enjoy! Very envious :Envy:

A40farinagolf · February 12, 2017

8 hours ago, doormij said:

My latest: EL 10x50 roof, very good but not perfect, small: fit in my hand palm.

What would you improve about them?

doormij · February 13, 2017

20 hours ago, A40farinagolf said:

What would you improve about them?

1) The anti reflection coating, at a certain angle the reflection of the daylight is as bright as in the left image.

2) False pupils (arrow) cause -at a certain angle- weak images of bright objects like the moon or streetlights despite being way out of view (10 degree or so).

Reading http://www.scopeviews.co.uk/Swaro10x50EL.htm I read: 'the eye relief is to little for those wearing glasses', I wear glasses and there is plenty of eye relief; I set the eye-guard on position two.

With a price tag of 2408 euro that's a lot of money, but a refractor as good as this binocular with tripod, binoviewer and 2 Delos eyepieces is likely double this amount. (and with the Swaro you get 10 year warranty/ service not one year as with the telescope).

Edited February 13, 2017 by doormij

EWHB · February 21, 2017

Very nice!!!

John · February 23, 2017

Those Swarovski 10x50's look lovely ! :smiley:

I managed to find an old pair of Swarovski Habicht 8x30's in a charity shop. The body was rather battered and worn but the optics are crystal clear and superb. The price ? - £7.99 !!!!

I was quite shocked to find out how much these retail for today :shocked:

happy-kat · February 23, 2017

I've an old 8*30 from 40 years ago nothing remarkable Charles Frank with Frank Nipole optics but they are used daily for the garden birds, I need to collimate them as slight double vision if I ever work out how to get in there but the view is nice and bright very clear and they are so light. Have celstron granite 8*42 for night use very pleased with those.

DirkSteele · February 23, 2017

Me using the Vixen SG 2.1x42 binoculars in Namibia in September 2014 (love them). The blackness at the base of the image is the observatory wall (where a 12" LX200 lives) rather than the horizon. Was tricky to hold still for the 15 second exposure.

BinocularSky · February 23, 2017

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

I've an old 8*30 from 40 years ago nothing remarkable Charles Frank with Frank Nipole optics but they are used daily for the garden birds, I need to collimate them as slight double vision if I ever work out how to get in there

I have an old 10x50 Frank Nipole; collimation is done with eccentric rings on the objectives. Ideally requires peg spanners. Non-trivial!

PeterW · February 23, 2017

Bushnell Rangemaster 7x35, crisp across 11degree field of view. Very nice to have such a wide field, even if they are probably older than I am! Ugly?... yes, but functional.

cheers

peter

Edited February 23, 2017 by PeterW
Addition

John · February 23, 2017

I picked up a pair of Opticron 11x70's last year off e.bay. Unlike the Chinese made 70mm binoculars these Japanese ones seem to operate at full aperture. The FoV is a little narrower than some (4 degrees vs 4.4 degrees) but the field you do get seems pretty sharp across the majority of it and very little in the way of CA shows on the moon. At 11x handholding is possible for short spells.

I'll dig them out and post a pic later.

TractionMan · March 17, 2017

My binos: Opticron Imagic TGA WP 10x50 which replaced my old Celestron UpClose 10x50 a couple of years ago, mainly for stargazing but they do get some daytime usage every now and then. Couldn't be happier with them I think. Then there's the latest addition, the Opticron Discovery WP PC 8x32 which I bought a few week ago. I wanted pair of binos that were compact and easy to bring along on dog walks, geocaching trips, daytime hikes, casual bird/wildlife watching sessions and so on. Pretty decent binos for the money, although not quite as sharp as the Imagic's

RT65CB-SWL · March 22, 2017

On 2017-2-7 at 17:55, A40farinagolf said:

My wife can never have enough handbags...

...or shoes. :evil62: (apologies in advance to the female members of SGL).

Racey · March 23, 2017

@iPeace I felt the same, until Canon refused to take them in for a simple recollimation task. "Sorry Sir, we will only take the most recent versions in for service".

Given the parts required weren't even available to self service they were passed on at zero cost to a friend who lost his sight in one eye after a head injury.

At least he can get use from a wonky pair of unserviceable, over complicated monoculars...

Thats why we had to buy the Pentax 10x50 and 20x60s...

While mates still service or get their old conventional bins serviced, I had to toss mine because Canon wouldn't resit the prisms because mine were one version older than they'd accept for service... ?

May yours never go out of collimation after Canon change their service policy on a whim... Up to that point I'd have agreed with you...

Edited March 23, 2017 by Racey

iPeace · March 23, 2017

1 hour ago, Racey said:

@iPeace I felt the same, until Canon refused to take them in for a simple recollimation task. "Sorry Sir, we will only take the most recent versions in for service".

Given the parts required weren't even available to self service they were passed on at zero cost to a friend who lost his sight in one eye after a head injury.

At least he can get use from a wonky pair of unserviceable, over complicated monoculars...

Thats why we had to buy the Pentax 10x50 and 20x60s...

While mates still service or get their old conventional bins serviced, I had to toss mine because Canon wouldn't resit the prisms because mine were one version older than they'd accept for service... ?

May yours never go out of collimation after Canon change their service policy on a whim... Up to that point I'd have agreed with you...

Yes, that's very disappointing. Not the type of product one should be expected to write off at the end of the warranty period. They could at least have offered you a nice discount on a new pair. They work so brilliantly, though, that I probably couldn't resist getting another pair anyway...

:rolleyes2: